Surprise
by shiftyness
Summary: Rinoa is away in Deling, getting to know her father. Squall misses Rinoa and is bored during his day off. Rating just to be safe.


_Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 8 or any of the Final Fantasy series is not mine. If it was, do you really think I'd be writing fics instead of spending all my money?_

**Title:…Surprise**

Squall Leonhart stared blankly at the ceiling, his hands behide his head, breathing even.

This was his first day just doing nothing in a while.

And he was bored out of his mind. He couldn't even go up to the bridge anymore!

**-Flashback-**

"I'm sorry, commander, but the Headmaster, Mrs. Kramer and Quistis gave strict orders that you aren't to go into the bridge during your days off," a cadet, almost trembling, said as he barred his superior from the elevator.

"Are you kidding me!" the SeeD demanded, his hand and jaw clenching visibly.

The caded trembled even more under the other man's glare. "I—I'm sorry, sir."

"Squall, stop terrorizing the poor kid," Irvine said in his usual casual manner as he appeared behind him. "Can't you see he's about to wet his pants?"

Squall grumbled something that sounded like an apology under his breath before turning around to face the sharpshooter, a frown on his face.

"What am I supposed to do then?"

"Aside from terrorizing cadets?" Irvine asked. Receiving a glare, he shrugged. "Hey, don't ask me. I'm showing Selphie my motorbike later but you can tag along if you want."

"Whatever," muttered Squall, heading to the dormitories.

**-End of Flashback**-

He let out a sigh and turned onto his side.

Selphie had somehow convinced Irvine to let her borrow his brand new motorcycle and now the two were off riding around the country. Zell was either in the Cafeteria, stuffing his face with hotdogs or the library, borrowing his many books as he can. Quistis was in the Training Center with Seifer, practicing with him and most probably shouting at him as well. And Rinoa…

Rinoa had been gone for a while now. She was in Deling City with General Caraway and father and daughter, having finally set aside their differences, were getting to know each other again. She had been away for two whole weeks now and he missed her.

Terribly.

Although he would never readily admit it to anyone.

They talked on the phone often. Well, more often than not, she talked, he listened. But he didn't mind.

It was refreshing to hear her voice but torture not to see her beautiful face.

Squall groaned and rolled onto his back. Hyne dammit, he really need to find something to do or he'd go crazy.

He was saved from thinking what to do when the phone rang. Nearly jumping out of his bed, he ran to it.

"Yeah?" he said in his usual indifferent way, though slightly breathless.

"Hey, did I wake you?" came Rinoa's voice.

Squall smiled at the sound of her voice and sat down on the chair beside his desk.

"Nah. I was just lying around," he shrugged even though there was no one there to see him do it.

Rinoa giggled. "Sounds fun. Miss me yet?"

_Absolutley. _"…"

"You're no fun, Squall," Rinoa accused him although she had a smile in her voice. "Um…Listen, when I get back next week, do you want to do something?"

_NEXT WEEK?_

Squall glanced at his calender. That was seven centuries away!

"Sure," he replied.

"Great. So what do you want to do?"

"That's going to be a surprise."

He knew Rinoa was raising an eyebrow right now. He nearly choked, himself.

"Alright. I'm looking forward to it. I'll see you in a week?"

_Maybe sooner._ "Sure."

"Well…bye, then."

"Bye."

After a minute of silence, the line went dead and Squall hung up. Should he take the train? Nah. That would take too long. A mischievous smile formed on his lips as he glanced out his window.

* * *

Squall landed the Ragnarok down a mile or two away from Deling City so as not to alarm the citizens. Of course, they might be used to it now since Selphie frequently visited the city on the Ragnarok to buy new clothes.

He sat in the pilot seat a few minutes more, just staring at the huge city, the city where Rinoa currently was.

Shaking his head, he snapped himself out of his slight daze and walked out of the bridge. A few seconds later, a blue car rode out of the Ragnarok and towards Deling City.

Rinoa Heartilly was bored.

Excruciatingly bored.

She hated events like these, where the rich, snobby and famous held their stuffy noses up high and talked about the world's problems but did absolutely nothing to help. It was so hypocritical.

"I'm sorry, Rinoa. I couldn't refuse to attend this social event. The President of Centra is supposed to come," General

Caraway said as he stood beside his daughter.

"It's alright," Rinoa assured him, forcing a smile to her face as Naomi Turner, one of the people her father had introduced her to, waved at her.

There were still some things about her father that annoyed her, like his social climbing, but they were getting along well. She knew he hoped that within the next week they would finally be acting like father and daughter. She doubted that would really happen but she was open to the idea. It had been too long since she had had a father figure in her life. The closest thing to that, before she and Caraway had reconciled, was Headmaster Cid and she had only known him for half a year at the least.

Then, she realized what her father had said.

"Laguna's going to be here?" she asked, eager to see Squall's father again.

"Yes, he is and please be respectful, Rinoa," General Caraway told her while smiling at a man who had nodded at them.

Rinoa frowned but still couldn't hide her happiness. The last time she had seen him was when he had invited his son, her and the rest of the gang to his summer name for two weeks of summer fun.

Squall…she sighed. If only he could be here now.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Mr. Leonhart, but the general and his daugter are out for the evening," the butler at the Caraway Mansion intoned as he held the door open.

_Hyne dammit! Of all the luck!_ seethed Squall.

"I see. Do you know when they'll get back?" Squall inquired calmly.

"Knowing the general, not until very late, sir," answered the butler. The old man smiled. "But if Miss Rinoa gets her way, which is unlikely, they'll be back in a few minutes."

The SeeD also smiled. That would be so like her. "Well, do you know _where_ they are?"

"At the Presidential Palace, sir, attending a ball,"

"Thank you," said Squall, turning around and walking back to his car.

He sat in the driver's seat, contemplating. Should he go back to Garden and try another day or (he nearly gulped at the idea) go shopping and go to the ball?

"Ah, Hyne kill me," he muttered, turning the key in the ignition and driving towards the Deling Shopping Center, his face slightly ashen.

* * *

Rinoa sighed audibly as she sat down after the six dances. Her feet were absolutely _killing _her. Never again would she dance. At least, not tonight anyways.

She looked around the ballroom and saw her dad talkinto Laguna and few more very important officials, some from Centra, others from Galbadia.

She sighed again (Squall's habits seemed to be rubbing off on her) and took her cellphone from her purse, punching in Squall's number in Balamb. Her father would kill her once he saw the phone bills but hey, he was the one who _gave_ her the cellphone.

After the 8th ring, Rinoa cancelled the call.

Great.

Squall was out having fun while she was stuck here at this stupid ball. Not that she didn't want him having fun, she just would have liked it better, if he was having fun with _her._

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see someone sit beside her and place a white rose on the table, in front of her.

She turned, opening her mouth to tell whoever it was that she was in no mood to be seduced and that she had a big, bad boyfriend who would be quite ready to kill for her if she but say the word.

But whatever she was supposed to say evaporated from her mind as she saw Squall, her big, bad boyfriend, sitting there, a soft smile on his face and looking gorgeous in a tuxedo.

"Squall," she gasped. She could almost hear her jaw hit the ballroom's well-carpeted floor.

"Hi," he said.

Getting over her surprise quickly, she threw her arms around his neck. "Oh, Hyne! What on earth are you doing here? How did you get here? Please don't tell me this is another one of Doctor Odine's crazy experiments!"

Squall chuckled into her hear. "Breathe, Rin," he said lightly. "I'm here because I want to be. And as to how I got here, the Ragnarok provided some help." He thought it was wise not to respond to the last bit of her greeting.

"Have I mentioned how much I love that ship?" said Rinoa, quite aware that there was a silly grin on her face now.

"Once or twice, probably," he told her. Then, a slight blush started to creep up his features. "Um…do you wanna…dance?"

Rinoa could hardly supress a giggle. This was so unlike Squall. But she didn't find herself complaining. In fact, she loved it.

"I'd love to," she replied, forgetting her vow that she wouldn't dance again that night.

As they stepped onto the dance floor, the song changed and the couple smiled as they heard the music. It was her mother's song.

Rinoa could see Laguna smiling at them over her father's shoulder and she smiled back at him, somehow knowing that he had requested the song.

Any and every thought flew out of her mind as Squall pulled her close.

She smiled up at him before wrapping her arms around his neck and laying her head on his shoulder.

A moment later, she let out a giggle.

"Squall?"

"Yeah?"

"The tuxedo still has a tag."

* * *

That is it.

I thought of making this multi-chaptered but I decided against it.

Tell me what you think! No Flames please but I can do with constructive criticism.


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